Stories for December 21st 2018

An Argentine appeals court Thursday upheld the September decision by judge Claudio Bonadio whereby Former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (CFK) must stand trial and be preemptively imprisoned throughout the proceedings for having allegedly received millionaire bribes from businessmen in the Kirchnerist governments (2003-2015).

The Santander group has been fined more than £30m for serious failings in processing the accounts of dead customers, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said. The FCA found that Santander failed to transfer funds worth more than £183m to beneficiaries.

Brazil’s future economy minister wants state development bank BNDES to return 100 billion Reais, some US$25.7 billion, to the nation’s treasury in 2019, a newspaper reported, as the incoming government seeks to cut the nation’s hefty debt load.

Brazil's attorney general has accused President Michele Temer of sitting at the center of an institutionalized system of corruption and has asked the courts to charge him with crimes as soon as he leaves office at the year's end.

United States defense Secretary Jim Mattis is stepping down from his post, President Donald Trump announced on Thursday, after the retired Marine general clashed with the president over a troop drawdown in Syria and Trump's go-it-alone stance in world affairs.

While the relationship between the UK and Argentina is changing, the UK commitment to the people and sovereignty of the Falklands is unchanging, assured Prime Minister Theresa May in her Christmas speech to the Falklands.